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Turn the River
Screen Media Films


6.5

based on 10 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 2 votes
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Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for language

Starring Famke Janssen, Jaymie Dornan, Rip Torn, Matt Ross, and Lois Smith

A poker-playing pool hustler takes her last shot at redemption by trying to score enough money to run away with the son she was forced to abandon at birth. (Screen Media Films)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Chris Eigeman
DIRECTED BY:	Chris Eigeman
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: July 22, 2008 Theatrical: May 9, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	92 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Variety Ronnie Scheib

Atmospheric picture positively vibrates with authenticity, and Janssen's intense, febrile performance earned a special jury prize at the Hamptons fest.

Village Voice Nick Pinkerton

Turn the River can't weather the ante-upping into pathos when Kailey desperately reasserts her privilege of motherhood--but the sense of storytelling intelligence is undeniable.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

Has a mixture of edginess and melancholy that's beautifully sustained until the climax, when the tang of realism becomes the cudgel of melodrama.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Turn the River becomes a standard fatalistic misfits-on-the-run movie with more than its share of improbabilities. It's as if Eigeman didn't realize how good the best parts of his film were, and so went ahead and trashed them.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

Skip the coda to this movie, with its tiny upswing of hope, and remember the days at the tables, as dim and endless as nights, and the click of the dialogue.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

The main problem with Turn the River is that it's a well-acted, if not terribly well-crafted, character-driven drama without much in the way of a purpose.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Until it transforms into an improbable thriller, Turn the River is a finely observed portrait of a desperate working-class woman who refuses to play by ordinary rules.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

An only-in-the-movies mother hustles pool to raise the money to abduct the son she's been forbidden to see since her divorce.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

It's not sharp or ironic, but drab and downbeat. Unfortunately, it's also going to feel utterly familiar to those who've seen their share of independent dramas in the last 15 years.

New York Post Kyle Smith

Turn the River lacks almost everything Eigeman has as a performer: charisma, wit and snappy delivery.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.5 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jay H. gave it a6:
Slowly paced but it works for most of this movie. Very well acted by the entire cast, the story is well written and the direction by Chris Eigeman is very careful and thoughtful.

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Turn the River Screen Media Films

Turn the River
Screen Media Films